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“Man is rich in proportion to the things that he can afford to live without.”

September is winding down and no doubt you’re thinking, “Where did it go?” I know that I am. I have had a record tomato crop, picking two or three bushels of them some days from my 200 abundant plants. I can’t say why this is so but I was more diligent than ever at applying Bordo copper spray every two weeks. This seemed to keep the dreaded blight — both the earl’ and late varieties — at bay.

I have a deal with my buddy Ted, at Mother’s Deli in Unionville, where I give him my excess tomato crop and he makes sauce with it. He sells the sauce for $6 per half-litre jar to area residents and has trouble keeping up. This year the waiting list was so long by the end of summer that his production never matched the demand.

More commercial enterprises should have such a problem — except that this endeavour is not really a commercial project as we donate the net proceeds (after paying for the new preserving jars) to the local food bank. This is our mutual idea of fun. And it answers the question that everyone asks: “Why do you grow 200 tomato plants when there are only three of you at home?”

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Bumper apples: The apples are a similar story. After last year’s fiasco, the trees decided that this was going to be a command performance. God bless them. One Cortland apple tree — the smallest in this particular row — was so overburdened with fruit that its lower branches hung down to the ground as if weeping. “Pick some apples, you moron!” it seemed to scream every time I walked past it. Hard to explain to a tree that the fruit is not much good to me without it being ripe. Pick them I did . . . eventually. And my wife Mary made the best apple sauce with them.

My theory on this year’s abundant crop is this: When last year’s late-April frost killed the blossoms and Ontario’s apple crop suffered — with a reduction of 80 to 90 per cent drop in production — the trees had a meeting. They decided that if they were to perpetuate, they had better make fruit. An apple is the food source of ripe apple seeds and the seeds are the beginning of a new generation of apple trees. This is how apple trees think.

So, this spring, they bloomed to beat the band and, as luck would have it, there was no killing frost. The pollinators did their job and, as a result, you can walk into most any pick-your-own apple orchard right now and they will greet you with open bushel baskets for you to fill in no time. Last year your visit was likely met with a groan. What, after all, were they going to do with customers when they had no produce hanging from the trees?

Humming along: The hummingbird season has been another success. They have arrived in such numbers in late August that, like Snoopy and the Red Baron, they’ve been having dog fights over my giant rudbeckias. Together they fly, beak to beak, high into the sky only to part at 30 or 40 feet, one chasing the other around the yard. They spar over territory, aggressive little creatures that they are — like 6-year-old school boys arguing over who should get the ball next.

Of all of the bird activity around our garden, I enjoy the hummingbirds best of all. But the songs of the warblers, wrens and chickadees can’t be missed. If you need a reason to be in the garden, this is it. Take your cup of coffee with you and just sit and look, alone. Give yourself five minutes and I guarantee that you will see things that previously went unobserved. Maybe nothing that rocks your world — but you never know.

The battling hummingbirds are a powerful memory, especially when you conjure it up in your mind during the first big snowfall this winter. Yes, this is the same country where hummingbirds visit. On that cold day you can imagine them at that moment, somewhere in Costa Rica — maybe sipping a margarita. They may have a smaller brain than us. But who is smarter?

Home birding: I have 12 feeding stations around the garden and each is my insurance policy to attract a different variety of bird since each has something different in it. The big one, which is “squirrel proof,” is full of black oil sunflower seeds — which the squirrels love. The little mammals are pretty good at getting their fair share of it, too. Every time I see a black fluffy tail hanging down from the feeding platform, I spray some oil on the baffle and enjoy watching them slide down it in their attempts to reach the seed. This works for a week or two at best.

My menu for the birds includes my own blend of nyjer seed and husked sunflower seed for the finches, whole peanuts on the shell for the blue jays (salt-free), shelled peanuts for the downy woodpeckers and grackles (can’t believe that I admit that grackle thing), and my own blend of Bird Feast bird seed for everyone else. I even have a blend that includes dried cranberries and sweet walnut chunks which, when the pantry is bare, I serve to my buddies when they come over to watch the game (kidding).

All of this it to say that I justify my investment in bird food by telling myself that this is in lieu of a cigarette habit. I believe that it is healthier in the long run, too. While this may be a simple rationale for an expensive hobby, I never did say that sanity was a strong point.

I am careful to keep the feeders loaded up this time of year as wild birds that overwinter here are staking their ground through the autumn months. If they find what they like at my place, then they are more inclined to make this their winter home than elsewhere. This is my theory, anyway.

Question of the Week

What was the name of the “mystery flower” in your September e-newsletter contest?

The flower is a begonia. I will post the winner’s name in the October issue of Gardening with Mark.

Henry David Thoreau

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster and garden editor of Reno and Decor magazine. You can sign up for his free monthly newsletter at markcullen.com, and watch him on CTV Canada AM every Wednesday at 8:45 a.m. You can reach Mark through the “contact” button on his website and follow him on Twitter @MarkCullen4 and Facebook. Mark’s latest book, Canadian Lawn & Garden Secrets, is available at Home Hardware and all major bookstores.

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